Main:Angelina Melnikova
Voronezh, Voronezh Oblast, Russia |Row 4 title = Years on National Team |Row 4 info = 2014-present |Row 5 title = Club |Row 5 info = SDUSHOR |Row 6 title = Current status |Row 6 info = Active}}Angelina Romanovna Melnikova (Russian: Ангелина Романовна Мельникова, born July 18, 2000 in Voronezh) is an elite Russian gymnast and 2016 Olympian. She is the 2019 World all-around and floor exercise bronze medalist, 2019 European all-around bronze medalist, 2019 European Games Champion, 2017 European Floor Exercise Champion, 2018 & 2016 Russian National All-Around Champion, 2014 Junior European All-Around Champion, and 2014 Junior European Balance Beam Champion. Junior Career 2013-2014 Melnikova competed at the Russian Hopes in 2013, winning team gold, and all-around, vault, and uneven bars silver. She was added to the National Team in 2014 and traveled to Canada to compete at the International Gymnix. There, she won another team gold, all-around and uneven bars silver, and added a bronze medal on floor exercise. She showed much promise at the Russian Nationals in late March, winning team, all-around, balance beam, and floor exercise gold, and placing seventh on uneven bars. In May, Melnikova competed in her first European Championships, nabbing the team, all-around and balance beam titles. She also won silver on uneven bars and placed sixth on vault. In late November, she took gold in the all-around, vault and uneven bars, and a sixth place team finish at the Top Gym in Charleroi, Belgium. 2015 At the Russian Junior Championships in April, she won team gold, but a fall on bars in the all-around landed her in second place. She won an additional balance beam gold, floor exercise silver, and placed fifth on uneven bars. In May, she competed at a friendly meet against gymnasts from Italy, Romania, and Colombia, winning team gold and all-around silver. Senior Career 2016 Melnikova made her senior international debut at the Stuttgart World Cup in March, winning team gold. In April, she claimed her first senior National All-Around title. She also won additional gold medals with her team, on balance beam, and floor exercise, and placed fifth on uneven bars. In June, she competed at her first senior European Championships, helping Russia to a team gold medal. She initially qualified for both uneven bars and balance beam finals, but was pulled out of uneven bars in favor of a teammate. She placed fifth on balance beam. In July, she competed at the Russian Cup, winning team, all-around, and balance beam gold, uneven bars silver, and floor exercise bronze. She was named to the Russian Olympic team shortly thereafter.Olympics Rio Olympics Russia competed in the second subdivision in qualifications, starting on balance beam. Melnikova had a rough competition, resulting in her not qualifying to the all-around, as her teammates Aliya Mustafina and Seda Tutkhalyan had qualified ahead of her. She continued to struggle in the team final, but less so than in qualifications. Russia won the silver. Melnikova continued to compete after the Olympics. In November, she competed at the Arthur Gander Memorial in Spain, winning the all-around title. 2017 In late February, she competed at the Russian Championships, winning team silver, vault and balance beam bronze, and placed eighth on floor and eleventh in the all-around. In March, she competed at the Stuttgart World Cup, where she won silver in the all-around. In April, she first competed at the City of Jesolo Trophy in Italy, winning team, vault, and floor exercise bronze, and placing sixth in the all-around and seventh on balance beam. She went on to compete London World Cup, where she placed fifth in the all-around. Later in April, she competed at the European Championships in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Although she qualified to both the vault and floor exercise final, mistakes elsewhere cost her a spot in the all-around. She placed eighth in the vault final, but clinched a surprise gold medal in the floor final. In August, she competed at the Russian Cup, winning all-around and balance beam gold, team and vault bronze, and placed fourth on bars and fifth on floor. In October, she competed at the World Championships in Montreal, Canada. Mistakes on floor exercise prevented her from advancing into the event final, but she did qualify to the all-around. More mistakes on floor landed her in sixteenth place in the all-around. In November, she competed at the Mexico Open, winning vault and uneven bars gold, all-around and floor exercise silver, and placing fifth on beam. She rounded off the year at the Voronin Cup, winning team and all-around gold and vault and uneven bars silver. 2018 Melnikova began her season at the Stuttgart World Cup in March. There, she showed an upgraded floor routine, but it wasn't enough to make up for a mistake on bars and a fall on balance beam. She placed fourth, just shy of the podium. She fared better the following week at the Birmingham World Cup, hitting four routines to win the all-around title. In April, she competed at the Russian Championships, impressively winning six medals, four gold (all-around, uneven bars, balance beam, and floor exercise) and two silver (team and vault). In June, she continued her impressive performances, winning team, all-around, and uneven bars gold at the Russian Cup. She went on to compete at the European Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, where she won team gold, vault silver, uneven bars bronze, and placed sixth on floor. Melnikova was named to the Russian team for the World Championships in Doha, Qatar in late October. She contributed to Russia's silver medal finish, which also qualified them a full team to the 2020 Olympics, and individually placed fifth in the all-around and fourth on floor exercise. After Doha, she competed at the Arthur Gander Memorial, placing fourth in the all-around, and the Swiss Cup Zurich, placing second. 2019 Melnikova returned to the Russian Championships in March. She gave a similar performance from last year's Championships, winning medals in every event; floor exercise gold, team, all-around, vault, and balance beam silver, and uneven bars bronze. She later competed in the Team Challenge at the Stuttgart World Cup, helping the Russian team qualify to the team final and win silver behind Brazil. In April, she came into the European Championships in Szczecin, Poland as a favorite for the all-around title. She qualified first to the all-around, and additionally qualified to vault, uneven bars, and floor exercise finals. She won bronze in the all-around, placed fifth on vault, won silver on uneven bars, and won bronze on floor exercise. In late June, she competed at the European Games in Minsk, Belarus. She won the all-around, her first major international all-around title, and the uneven bars, and picked up two additional silver medals on vault and balance beam. At the Russian Cup in August, she won all-around and vault silver and uneven bars bronze. In October, she competed at the World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany, helping Russia win team silver. Individually, she won bronze in the all-around and on floor exercise and placed fourth on bars. In December, she competed at the Toyota International, winning gold on vault, uneven bars, and balance beam. She fell on floor exercise and finished seventh. 2020 In early February, Melnikova competed as a guest at the 1st Italian Serie A Nationale, competing with GAL Lissone and placing ninth. Medal Count Floor Music 2014 - "Art on Ice" by Edvin Marton 2016 - "Kalinka" 2017 - “Romeo and Juliet”/ “Spicy” by Edvin Marton 2018 - "Despacito" by Luis Fonsi/ "Unstoppable" by E.S. Posthumus/ "Scene D'amour" by Sarah Brightman References